Top IT job skills for 2014: Big data, mobile, cloud, security

The IT job market is on the rise, and top jobs include anything in big data, mobile, cloud or security. Learn more about the latest hiring trends with TechRepublic's roundtable of IT executives and tech recruiters.

TechRepublic:
What are the top tech hiring trends for 2014?

Kazanjy:
One of the biggest trends
in 2014 will be the continued uptick in demand for technical talent, but more
broadly across the entire economy, and not just siloed in its own
"tech" sector. Technology is ceasing to be a "sector" on
its own, and is instead becoming more critical in every industry, as seen with
Google's recent purchase of Nest, the transformation of traditional commerce
companies like Wal-mart, Macy's, Best Buy and so forth into "e-commerce-first"
players. Moreover the ramp of "mobile" as something that will impact
all forms of technology will continue apace. And with that comes the need for
the technical talent to drive those processes.

Porter: This year will be more
important for the UX engineer than ever before. More and more
applications, especially mobile, are going to require sophisticated and
extremely useable interfaces. We expect higher numbers of developers will
be adopting and embracing UX skills and roles. Also, we see more and more
enterprises are embracing the cloud, so naturally engineers with cloud
expertise will be more in demand.

Scearce: From what I have seen, as well as
read, is that 2014 will have a huge focus on data. Social media is
exploding, cloud computing is a bigger focus for organizations of all
sizes, and mobile technology has become a necessity. Therefore, we will see a
bigger emphasis on employees educated and skilled with data
programming/administration, mobile development and security as more
information is provided online and via the cloud.

Yogurtcu: With the rising popularity of Hadoop,
positions are geared towards filling these roles, with lots of interest placed
on big data and data mining and analysis. Most of the new hires are recent
graduates, since they embody a lot of creativity and forward thinking, both
qualities needed in the industry of big data.

Foley: I know we’ve heard it
several times over the past few years, but a lot of employers are using social
media to do extra research on potential hires. It gives you a much quicker
insight into receiving and analyzing a resume in order to see what the person
is all about. That will not stop. It will continue to grow.

Noble:
The demand for tech and
software talent is exploding. A lot of companies have been aggressive and
creative to compete for candidates in these fields. For instance, besides
compensation and the technical work of the job role, companies are using
culture as a key differentiator. They aren’t only talking about the company,
they’re also talking about the perks outside of work, and benefits, like cool
team events, providing free haircuts, massages, food and more.

Schulte: Big data. Data is exploding all over
the IT scene and reshaping how we think about storing and analyzing large
volumes of data. Companies are realizing they can mine valuable business
intelligence to improve decision making and gain the competitive advantage.
Tools such as Hadoop are making all of this possible and because of it,
NoSQL skills at all levels are in extremely high-demand.

TechRepublic: Is the tech job market
improving and will it lead to more jobs this year when compared to last year?

Yogurtcu: We
think so. With more big data initiatives and higher adoption from
organizations, there will be more new tech jobs. In addition, technology
advances such as GPS data, medical sensors, and social media have expanded the
realm of what is possible. This increases the demand for tech professionals,
without diminishing the need for the more traditional tech roles.

Langhoff:
Technology grew 21 percent in 2013 and looks to maintain a strong pace for 2014. New York has actually outpaced Silicon Valley in the last year and Los Angeles; Denver/Boulder; Austin, Texas; and Boston also have strong tech scenes. We will also see a continued shift to cloud-based computing and tech workers versed in cloud
related tools and architectures will be at an advantage.

Fowler: The tech job market is improving. We’re
seeing it in not only when it comes to hiring but in increased educational and
training opportunities for students and potential candidates in the US.

Herbert: Steady is probably the best way to characterize
the IT job market. Nearly 100,000 IT jobs were added in 2013, which translates
to growth of about 2.1 percent over 2012, according to Bureau of Labor
Statistics data (note: this include jobs at firms plus self employed, sole
proprietors.) Growth over the past three years has been in a similar range, so
it’s not so much improvement, but rather maintaining a steady, but modest,
growth rate. The data suggests 2014 IT job growth will be comparable to last
year.

Scearce: Overall I think we all can agree
the job market is improving and government data confirms it.
In terms of the tech market specifically, yes. All of our campuses have been
seeing an increase of tech-related positions from employers and recruiting
firms. Businesses are growing again, creating the need for more support staff
for a growing IT infrastructure. Company data is filling the cloud,
website, etc. and must be protected. Things are certainly looking very positive
for the tech industry.

TechRepublic: Which tech jobs will be most in
demand?

Fowler: The top three roles will be: software developers,
database administrators (DBAs) and IT security professionals. Every company,
regardless of industry, can be considered a software company because technology
touches every aspect of an organization. IT is responsible for the success of a
company’s supply chain, finance, communications and customer service. The
explosion of mobile apps and big data is driving the needs for savvy developers,
data administrators and security pros who can ensure businesses and their
customers are well covered. Consumerization is driving the demand for
great software developers. We can also expect an uptick in hiring for IT
security roles given recent high-profile hacks at major retailers and a general
sense of insecurity from consumers around NSA activities.

Borre: There are top four skills IT professionals will need in 2014. The first is web frameworks, because as more applications are moving away from closed systems and desktop to the web it is crucial for both infrastructure and application
development professionals to familiarize themselves with web based
frameworks such as ASP, Java or Ruby. The second is big data. In 2014, data will range from geocached information to audio recordings to video, and new systems are needed to both effectively store and analyze this data. The third skill is responsive design.
Nearly 20 percent of all web traffic in 2013 was from a mobile device and that number will only grow as more and more people work remotely with little more than their smartphone and a tablet. The fourth is UX, which is webspeak for User Experience. Professionals are dedicating entire careers to not only understanding how users interact with their system but analyzing how applications and client facing systems can be optimized for users to find exactly what they’re looking for in the
minimum amount of time.

Messineo: As we expand our business in cloud,
IT outsourcing and data center, skills in those areas will be critical. This
will also include virtualization, security, project management, help desk,
unified communications and consulting skills; Cisco certified talent (CCIE) as
well as Microsoft Lync and Exchange. In general, it's more about cultural fit
than having all of the technical skills on a manager’s wish list.

Scearce: Considering the trends, I would say positions in database
programming/administration and application development will be in high demand this year. As companies move data to cloud-based systems and establish a more robust presence on the web, security of that data will be crucial. Therefore, positions related to the network and overall IT security will be in high demand. Businesses are growing again and they need proper IT support. So, positions such as IT help desk associates and general technical support positions will be growing in 2014 (specifically in the healthcare niche) and we have already seen a large increase in demand.

Schulte: It's incredible the amount
of big data job titles that are out there, and new ones are popping up every
week. Search your favorite career site for big data and you'll see what I mean.
This includes big data scientists, big data software engineers, big data
DBA/systems administrator, anything business intelligence (BI) related,
anything Hadoop related.

Porter: The top jobs will be UX engineer, cloud engineer, process engineer, developer in test and JavaScript engineer.

Kazanjy:
The top tech jobs in 2014 will be mobile developers, full stack software engineers, and engineers with strong design chops who encapsulate skills in newer technologies and languages.

Noble:
Big data and mobile computing are in most demand this year. For big data, companies are looking to find clever ways of mining data and discovering business intelligence they didn’t know before. In mobile computing, there’s blurred lines between laptops
and mobile devices and tablets, and other devices like smart watches, so the
demand for job roles focusing on these will be popping up a lot this year.

Yogurtcu: The big data industry is growing at such a
fast rate that the high-demand positions vary. Data scientists and IT
professionals are dominating roles, employers in are looking for Hadoop-certified
individuals with experience in distributed computing, MapReduce, Hbase, Pig and
Hive.

Foley: Without a doubt, programming skills are on an exponential growth pattern. Particularly, the Android operating system, Apple and any mobile development platform, including HTML5.

TechRepublic: Which tech jobs will be less
popular this year?

Porter: UI Designers who purely
design and do not feel comfortable in the UX and development worlds.

Casey:
Systems roles. Infrastructure management is becoming
increasingly efficient and tools like Puppet make it easy for a single person
to maintain thousands of servers. The need for highly skilled development
engineers will be there but companies need far fewer people to manage that.

Irani:
SAP/Oracle ERP is on a big decline. With most
companies outsourcing support in this area and most large skill ERP
implementation a thing of the last decade, the demand for these skills is
sharply dropping while the supply of skills continue to rise.

Fowler:
iOS native mobile
development may be in less demand in favor of HTML-based mobile solutions.

Noble:
Older technologies like
Cobol are dying. Assembler is less popular, and more people are moving to
higher-level languages like Java, Python and Ruby.

TechRepublic: What skills sets should people considering
adding in 2014 to stay relevant?

Porter: UX and JavaScript for sure,
with cloud development coming in a very close second.

Noble:
People should gain front-end skill sets, including human computer interaction, user experience and responsive design. On the back-end side, skill sets should be focused on big data and scale, so we’re looking for people who are able to process enormous
quantities of data in real time.

Foley: With the
explosion of social media and its growth, it would benefit anyone developing
content to gain skills in video editing and graphic editing.

Scearce: From an IT skill set perspective, the
hot skills to add would be focusing on network security, application and
database development, and cloud computing for any industry niche. From a
job-seeking perspective, the skill of networking is still the most important
weapon when looking for an opportunity. There are also a multitude of
social networking sites, such as Linkedin, and apps that can really help
if used properly.

Kazanjy: In 2014, recruiters will look for people who are more
modern, iterative, and can quickly develop languages like Ruby, Python,
Node.js, and such will continue to accelerate. Mobile development, especially
newer technologies like iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and cross platform mobile
frameworks like Sencha and Appcelerator's Titanium, will be a big trend in 2014.
And as big data becomes something that shows up across more and more offerings,
familiarity with NoSQL data stores like Hadoop, Cassandra and Redis will be
helpful.

Fowler: Developers with superior skills in
big data, Hadoop, Java and NoSQL (MongoDB), as well as HTML5 and CSS3, will
have a leg-up on the competition.

TechRepublic: What skill sets should people
gain in 2014 to be sought out by headhunters?

Mendler: The most sought after skills by headhunters are
development skills such as Python, Java, CSS. For systems engineers, the most
sought after skills are experience with NoSQL databases such as MongoDB,
Cassandra and Redis. And configuration management tools like Chef and Puppet.

Irani: The top skill is Agile. Agile is
blowing up, we have seen the number of jobs requiring Agile skills go up by a
factor of 10x in the last 18 months and that trend will
only continue. Also in demand is DevOps. It’s still a relatively new concept,
but we have seen an increased trend and expect to see a
greater increase of demand for people with skills in this area.

Langhoff:
With the continued shift
towards cloud computing, familiarity with development operations skillsets and
tools will become critical in quickly deploying servers and software. Popular
languages will include front-end languages (e.g. Javascript, HTML, CSS), the
mobile languages (e.g. Java for Android, Objective-C for IOS), server side
languages and frameworks (e.g. Python, PHP, Ruby), and database tools and
frameworks (e.g. SQL, Hadoop).

Scearce:
In addition to the IT
skills I have mentioned above, graduates and job seekers should
also pursue certifications. IT certifications can net candidates an additional 5-15
percent increase in salary (from various reports and data). They also make you
much more marketable as a candidate, since certification standards
are constantly updated to keep current with the latest in technology trends.

Foley:
I would have anyone looking to pick a secondary set of skills to look
into HTML5 programming. It’s extremely easy for a non-programmer to learn. Its
capabilities will redefine how we interact with the Internet.

Yogurtcu:
Since Hadoop is rapidly
dominating the big data field, employers are looking for professionals who are
knowledgeable on the administration and development side of Hadoop projects.
Basic skills like problem solving, the ability to apply information to a
current problem and computer science fundamentals are also hot topics in the
field.

Fowler: Technology is a vast industry and it
will depend on what chunk of that field an individual would like to get
involved with. I would recommend expanding your skill sets with Java EE, big
data, Hadoop, MongoDB and Spring, as those seem to be what companies are
currently looking for in their employees.

TechRepublic: If someone is in college, what
degree should they be pursuing for a tech career?

Keihm:
A computer information
systems (CIS) degree, or a bachelors or masters in information technology.

Fowler: Hone in on a computer science degree with a strong
emphasis in math, and explore the option of one-off code school setups to
develop specific coding skills.

Casey: My development team
is a mix of high school graduates, computer engineers, and a CS PhD. Someone
needs to have the drive to continually learn to be truly successful.

Noble: Someone who is pursuing a tech career should be pursuing
a computer science degree. There’s not nearly enough talent coming out of
schools to meet the demand in the job market for these positions. If you’re
looking to expand your specific skill set, Coursera is a great program as well.

Scearce: I would focus on
a CIS degree, and focus on one (or a few) of the following: cloud
computing, database programing and application/web development, network
security and healthcare IT.

TechRepublic: What are the top computer languages to learn for 2014?

Foley: HTML5, Android, Apple OS, and JQuery.

Herbert: CompTIA
does not produce an official list of top computer languages. For any insight on
demand for skills, Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights tracks job
postings, which helps to quantify what employers are looking for. For 2013,
these programming languages were cited at the highest rates in job postings: SQL,
Java, JavaScript and C#. Looking ahead, there are a number of emerging
programming languages that have high growth rates, but because they are still
somewhat niche, the total count of job openings is still relatively small (for
example, Pig, Hive and other Hadoop-related languages.)

Casey: Other than
native mobile languages, developers should learn JavaScript (and frameworks
like Angular or Backbone) and Python.

Scearce: I do not think this is a big change from last year, but some of the top programming languages in demand are SQL, Java, HTML, C#/C++, ASP.Net and XML. They all seem to be in popular demand from companies, large and small.

Yogurtcu: This is a very dynamic area. The ability to learn new languages and have a good foundation in algorithms is critical. There are opportunities for filling the skill shortage in the big data market with Pig and Hive. Java and Python will continue to be popular, and Scala is certainly will be another interesting one.

Mendler: High-level languages such as Python continue to be a popular choice. Python skills can be used for mobile application development, and scientific data analysis including big data number crunching. For web development, JavaScript is a good choice. JavaScript-based languages are seeing big gains in popularity using frameworks such as Node.js, Angular, Ember, and jQuery.

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About Teena Maddox

Teena Maddox is a Senior Writer at TechRepublic, covering hardware devices, IoT, smart cities and wearables. She ties together the style and substance of tech. Teena has spent 20-plus years writing business and features for publications including Peo...

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Teena Maddox is a Senior Writer at TechRepublic, covering hardware devices, IoT, smart cities and wearables. She ties together the style and substance of tech. Teena has spent 20-plus years writing business and features for publications including People, W and Women's Wear Daily.